1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to a method for fixing acetaldehyde, and more particularly, to an improved method for fixing acetaldehyde in an essentially mannitol substrate.
An important problem associated with the processing and sale of beverage products is imparting a fresh taste impact to the consumer, upon the reconstitution of the product. Such volatile components as aldehydes like acetaldehyde are important flavor components of fruits, vegetables and the like. Moreover, it has been found that interposing acetaldehyde in dry comestible mixes imparts an impact of freshness and enhancement in flavor particularly in fruit-flavor products. Therefore, there have been many attempts to fix acetaldehyde for its inclusion in dry comestible mixes. The problems attendant thereto are several-fold. The fixed product may be unstable, so that the acetaldehyde dissipates into the surrounding atmosphere or the fixative interacts with endogenous moisture. Moisture lability appears to be the most significant problem encountered with "fixed" acetaldehyde products. It has been demonstrated that moisture lability induces loss of the aldehyde due to the destruction of the fixative substrate.
2. Prior Art
There have been many attempts to fix aldehyde-generating volatile compounds in a variety of substrata. The most notable example is set out hereinbelow. The efficacy of such a fix is about 2% by weight. U.S. Pat. No. 3,314,803, issued to Dame et al. discloses a method for fixing acetaldehyde which includes first forming a solution of mannitol in water and preferably a super-saturated solution of mannitol, i.e., 25-45% mannitol solution. The super-saturated solution is formed by heating with agitation 2 to 10 parts by weight of mannitol with 10 parts by weight of water at 180.degree.-212.degree. F. until all of the mannitol is dissolved in water and no mannitol crystals remain in the solution. The mannitol solution is then cooled while acetaldehyde is added thereto, the acetaldehyde being continually refluxed and thereby condensed into mannitol solution until about 1 to 2 parts by weight of acetaldehyde are dissolved in a 10 parts by weight of water. The solution is then spray-dried with an initial acetaldehyde fix of approximately 4%-10% being obtained thereby. However, after one week exposure the level of acetaldehyde depleted to about 2.4% by weight of the total composition.